What is the translation of this word because I am not able to find it in the dictionary.
For example: n taara butiki kɔnɔ, sanbara baden bɛ (I went inside the store, there’s a lot of shoes.
Thank you
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This usage is (or was originally) part of a slang register.
In Dumestre’s 1988 article on Bambara slang, he notes that -den (lit. ‘child’) is sometimes used in place of the augmentative suffix -ba (which etymologically is related to the word ba meaning ‘mother’). He gives the following example:
wariden
‘a lot of money’ (as opposed to the normal form wariba)
In Vydrin’s grammar he notes this usage and also highlights that in youth slang one can also use -baden (lit. ‘AUGMENTATIVE-child’) to similar effect.
So in your example, the expression could actually be consider one big word sanbara-baden where sanbara is ‘shoe’ and -baden is an augmentative slang suffix that means ‘a lot’.
That’s cool that you heard or read this somewhere! 
Would love to hear more about the context and don’t hesitate to keep asking questions or even documenting some of this yourself so that we can add it to Forum and eventually the dictionary! I ni ce, Malik!
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